Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet jk-packet.md (2 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-downes-dd375-pkt-jk-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Downes II (DD-375) (builder, dates, service narrative, disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page 404s; identical text verified in 2015 Wayback capture of history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/downes-ii.html) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 22 April 1936 by Norfolk Navy Yard (sponsored by Miss S. F. Downes); commissioned 15 January 1937, Comdr. C. H. Roper in command; San Diego-based from 24 November 1937; Pearl Harbor home port from April 1940; in drydock with Cassin (DD-372) and Pennsylvania (BB-38) during the 7 December 1941 attack - incendiary bomb between the destroyers started fires fed by ruptured fuel tanks, ammunition and torpedo warheads exploded, ship abandoned; Cassin slipped from keel blocks and rested against Downes; both listed as complete losses; machinery and salvageable equipment shipped to Mare Island Navy Yard; decommissioned 20 June 1942; rebuilt and recommissioned at Mare Island 15 November 1943; Central Pacific service (Majuro, Wotje blockade, Eniwetok harbor-control vessel, Tinian, Aguijan, Marcus Island, TG 38.1, Battle for Leyte Gulf); Pearl Harbor overhaul; Marianas and Iwo Jima operations to war's end; arrived Norfolk 5 November 1945; decommissioned 17 December 1945; sold 18 November 1947; four battle stars. Specifications block: 1,500 tons; 341'4"; 35' beam; 36 knots; complement 158.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1934-1947
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1934-36; ship's company 1937-45 (design complement 158)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Its specifications block prints 'cl. Farragut' although the Naval Historical Center's own Online Library and standard references class DD-375 as Mahan class - discrepancy carried in gaps. Live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-27; verbatim HyperWar transcription cited, cross-checked against the 2015 Wayback capture of the official page (identical text).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-01
-
[3]USS Downes (DD-375) Action Report, DD375/A16-3(412), 'Report of Action with Japanese Aircraft During Attack on Pearl Harbor, T.H., December 7, 1941,' Commanding Officer to Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet, 17 December 1941 (HyperWar transcription; same document hosted in NHHC Pearl Harbor action-report digital exhibit) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Report paragraphs 1-3 (yard work in progress, crew aboard, weapons status), 9-16 (fires, explosions, abandonment)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Contemporaneous command report documents this hull under Navy Yard availability at the moment of destruction: Downes was docked in Drydock No. 1 with Cassin to port and Pennsylvania astern, 'receiving steam, electricity, fresh and salt water from Navy Yard sources,' with 'Navy Yard work ... in progress on the stern tubing, strut bearings, shell plating forward, replacement of tripod mast with stick mast, and various minor jobs. Large sections of the shell plating had been removed on both sides forward preparatory to replacement with heavier plate.' 142 enlisted men and five officers were aboard (most officers ashore on liberty). Gun breech plugs and .50-caliber ammunition were ashore/dismounted for yard work. Incendiary bomb hit the dock between the ships about 0827; fires fed by diesel/fuel oil and 'the painted surfaces of the ship' swept bow to stern; engine room abandoned 0912; ship abandoned about 0920; torpedo-tube No. 3 warheads detonated (demolishing No. 2 stack); forward magazine powder blew out through the hull sides; two men killed outright; the ship burned out.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-12-07 (attack); yard availability period immediately prior
- Population
- Downes crew aboard (142 enlisted, 5 officers); Navy Yard Pearl Harbor workers on the availability
- Limitations
- A combat action report - documents the yard-availability condition, crew presence, and fire/explosion sequence aboard this hull, but names no materials and contains no asbestos information. Establishes the work event (yard overhaul in progress), not the material content of disturbed systems.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-02
-
[4]Wallin, Homer N. (Vice Admiral, USN Ret.), 'Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal' (Naval History Division, 1968), Chapter XIII, section 4, 'U.S.S. Cassin (launched in 1935) and U.S.S. Downes (launched in 1936)' (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Chapter XIII, 'Ships Sunk at Pearl Harbor,' section 4 (pp. 205-210 of print edition)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official Navy salvage history - written by the Pearl Harbor Salvage Officer - documents the work performed on this hull: both destroyers suffered bomb hits, oil fires, fragmentation, and precautionary drydock flooding; 'the only ones of the Pearl Harbor group that suffered all the kinds of damage enumerated.' Explosions on Downes caused most of the damage - a torpedo explosion near the after stack blew a large hole in deck and side; hull was twisted and hogged with badly wrinkled plating, though main propulsive machinery, hull fittings, and machinery throughout were in relatively good shape on later examination. The Pearl Harbor Repair and Salvage Unit patched hundreds of fragment holes, replaced blown-out deck/side sections by electric welding, and 'removed much of the machinery and put some in a state of preservation in suitable Navy Yard storage.' Downes was floated and removed from the drydock 6 February 1942. The Bureau of Ships/Navy Department ordered both ships scrapped after removing all machinery and parts useful to Mare Island - 'the scrapping of Downes was completed in drydock in August 1942.' Mare Island Navy Yard completed the rebuilt ship November 1943; Downes won four battle stars and the Navy Occupation Medal for Asia.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1943
- Population
- Pearl Harbor Navy Yard salvage workforce and the Pearl Harbor Repair and Salvage Unit (about 6 officers + 60 enlisted specialists, augmented by ~70 salvage experts), December 1941 - August 1942
- Limitations
- Official salvage history documents the stripping/dismantling work event aboard this hull and the machinery transfer to the Mare Island-built replacement hull, but names no materials and contains no asbestos information. The demolition-in-place (Aug 1942) and machinery removal are documented events; what insulation/materials those events disturbed is not stated in the source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-03
-
[5]Historic American Engineering Record, HAER HI-65, 'U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Dry Dock No. 1 (U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Naval Shipyard, Facility No. S779)' (Library of Congress) [haer]
- Locator
- HAER HI-65 written documentation, Significance section + 'Losses Sustained During the Attack on Pearl Harbor' (quoting 1941 Navy Yard memorandum)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The HAER record for Pearl Harbor Navy Yard Dry Dock No. 1 documents the facility in which this hull was destroyed and salvaged: completed August 1919, 'a major focus of the December 7, 1941 attack since 3 ships, including the USS Pennsylvania, were docked here.' Quoting a contemporaneous Public Works Officer memorandum: 'It has not been possible to determine other possible damage to the dock such as blocking caused by fire i[n] USS Cassin and the USS Downes, which were in this dock with the USS Pennsylvania.' The dock is a Category One historic resource under the Pearl Harbor Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plan.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-2002 (recordation); 1941 (documented event)
- Population
- Navy Yard Pearl Harbor workforce, December 1941
- Limitations
- A facility record, not a vessel record - it establishes this hull's presence in Dry Dock No. 1 during the attack and fire (corroborating the action report and Wallin), but contains nothing about vessel materials or asbestos. No asbestos information of any kind in the source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-04
-
[6]Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: 'USS Downes (DD-375) - Salvage, December 1941 - February 1942' and companion pages 'USS Downes (DD-375), 1937-1947' and 'Following Reconstruction, 1943-1945' (HyperWar mirror of NHHC photo catalog) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Photo catalog captions NH 54556-54563 (salvage, Jan-Feb 1942); 19-N-57885/57890/57892 (rebuilt ship at Mare Island, Nov-Dec 1943)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Navy photo-catalog captions describe Downes as 'a 1,500-ton Mahan class destroyer ... built at the Norfolk Navy Yard' and document the salvage work photographically: guns removed during early salvage stages; caption for NH 54558 notes 'view of the ship's midship's section, looking aft and to port into the machinery spaces' during salvage on 2 February 1942 after she 'had been bombed and burned out'; salvage narrative states the machinery, hull fittings, and main battery guns were found repairable, the ships were stripped of guns and equipment, and 'the salvable items would be shipped to the Mare Island Navy Yard for installation in new hulls, and the old hulls scrapped at Pearl Harbor.' Post-rebuild captions (BuShips Collection, National Archives) photograph the reconstructed ship at Mare Island Navy Yard on 30 November and 8 December 1943.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1943
- Population
- Pearl Harbor Navy Yard salvage workers (Dec 1941-Feb 1942 views); Mare Island Navy Yard rebuild workers (1943 views)
- Limitations
- Official captions document the salvage and rebuild events and (importantly for class attribution) class this hull as Mahan - resolving the DANFS specifications-block 'cl. Farragut' anomaly. Captions document machinery spaces laid open during salvage but say nothing about insulation materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-05
-
[7]Atlas shipyard dataset records (shipyards.json): norfolk-naval-shipyard (tier 2), pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard (tier 1), mare-island-naval-shipyard (tier 2); Mahan-class standard plant per class references (GE geared turbines designed by Gibbs & Cox; four water-tube boilers) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json records 'norfolk-naval-shipyard', 'pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard', 'mare-island-naval-shipyard'; class machinery per Navypedia/Destroyer History class references
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Mahan-class destroyer built 1934-36 at Norfolk Navy Yard and re-built as a new hull at Mare Island Navy Yard (construction began October 1942 per Navy photo-caption data; commissioned November 1943) would have carried period-standard asbestos boiler and turbine insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. All three associated yards carry documented asbestos product lines in the Atlas dataset: Norfolk Naval Shipyard (pipe insulation/lagging, boiler and turbine insulation, gaskets, packing, deck coverings, bulkhead fire barriers; Superfund-listed; 1979 inspection found asbestos dust accumulation); Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (pipe covering, insulation blankets, asbestos mud, gaskets - including pipe insulation removed from ships during overhauls per litigation records; elevated mesothelioma rates in yard-worker epidemiology); Mare Island Naval Shipyard (Unibestos, Marinite, Transite, Kaylo, Careytemp, gaskets, packing). The 1941-42 salvage stripping of this hull's machinery spaces at Pearl Harbor and the 1942-43 new-hull construction at Mare Island are documented work events.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1934-1947
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1934-36; Pearl Harbor Navy Yard salvage/demolition crews 1941-42; Mare Island Navy Yard construction trades 1942-43; crews of both hulls
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - establishes nothing ship-specific about asbestos aboard either hull. The yard dataset documents asbestos at the facilities, not aboard this vessel. Mahan-class machinery details (four boilers, GE geared turbines) are class-standard figures from secondary references, not hull-specific documentation. No S39 insulation drawing, General Information Book, or material specification for DD-375 was retrieved or reviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-06
-
[8]Batch-3360 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC (live page + Wayback + HyperWar transcription), Wallin official salvage history, ship's action report, NHC Online Library photo catalog, HAER HI-65, NARA Ship Plan Index, NARA asbestos research guide, NAVSEA FOIA asbestos reading-room index, Atlas shipyard dataset [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-downes-dd375-01 through sl-uss-downes-dd375-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-375: no insulation survey, abatement contract, material inventory, hazmat disclosure, or other document identifying asbestos-containing material aboard either the original or replacement hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Ship-specific asbestos documentation is unknown.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the 1934-36 and 1942-43 construction eras are squarely within the Navy's documented asbestos-use period. Both hulls were scrapped (1942 at Pearl Harbor; 1947-48 postwar sale), so no surviving structure exists for modern survey. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-07
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 authenticated searches (type=o opinions and type=r RECAP dockets) via fleet helper, 2026-09-27; matching docket documents pulled and read from storage.courtlistener.com RECAP PDFs [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-downes-dd375-10 through sl-uss-downes-dd375-16; Kelly v. CBS ECF 275 (paed.434260); Siegfried v. 3M ECF 50 (cacd.702384)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming DD-375 located. All 'USS Downes' hits resolve to the LATER namesake USS Downes (DE-1070/FF-1070), a Knox-class frigate built by Todd Shipyards (Seattle) in service 1971-1992 - a different hull: (1) Kelly v. CBS Corporation, No. 3:11-cv-03240 (N.D. Cal.; MDL-875 transferee No. 2:11-cv-67269 E.D. Pa.) - Doc. 275 Memorandum/Order (Robreno, J., 2014-01-29) recites plaintiff Barry Kelly's alleged asbestos exposure 'aboard USS Downes (DE-1070)' as a Navy propulsion assistant, Todd Shipyards as builder defendant; (2) Terry Lee Siegfried v. 3M Company, No. 2:18-cv-01575 (C.D. Cal.) - removal/notice documents list 'USS Downes (FF-1070)' among vessels. 'DD-375' hits were all docket-number/string collisions (e.g., Fla. appellate docket no. DD-375; 'DD-375' strings inside unrelated filings). 'Downes' + asbestos opinion hits were attorney/party surname collisions. Exact-name and hull-number searches are logged in search_ledger.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2011-2019 (litigation reviewed)
- Population
- Kelly plaintiff (propulsion assistant aboard DE/FF-1070, not this hull); Siegfried plaintiff (LBNSY electrician, vessel list includes FF-1070)
- Limitations
- CourtListener coverage is limited to indexed state/federal opinions and federal RECAP dockets; unindexed state trial-court filings, settled MDL-875 claimant submissions, and non-digitized records are not covered. The collisions were resolved by full-text document reads (Kelly ECF 275; Siegfried ECF 50), but no search proves the absence of all possible litigation. DD-375's destruction in 1941 and 1947-48 scrapping precede the asbestos-litigation era - plaintiffs with service aboard this hull would have been WWII-era personnel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-08
-
[10]National Archives, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' (research guide) + NARA Ship Plan Index entries for Downes (DD-375) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA guided-topic page sections 'Bureau of Ships' and 'General Information Books'; Ship Plan Index 'DOWNES / DD-375' rows; UH Manoa ArchivesSpace object 12796
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's asbestos research guide identifies the record series for ship-specific asbestos documentation - Bureau of Ships (RG 19) general correspondence by hull filing code (DD375), ship-class correspondence (DD364 Class for Mahan), S39 insulation-and-lagging drawings, and General Information Books (destroyer GIBs at RG 19 Entry P 9). The NARA Ship Plan Index lists cataloged drawing series for this hull: RG 38 Trial Curves (NAID 12451237), RG 19 Hull series of Ship Engineering Drawings (NAID 153714470), and RG 19 Microfilm (NAID 175668926). University of Hawaii at Manoa also catalogs a Pearl Harbor Navy Yard photograph series 'Ship salvage and repair: USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Downes (DD-375), 1941 December - 1942 February.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Archival finding aids only - the index establishes that drawing series exist for this hull; no drawing, GIB, or S39 sheet was retrieved or examined, and whether any asbestos-specific sheet exists within these entries is unknown. The UH Manoa series is a photograph collection (condition documentation), not a materials record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-downes-dd375-09